To be clear, while the article says this is “official support”, this is only drivers provided by valve.

Per valve:

We are providing these resources as is and are unfortunately unable to offer ‘Windows on Deck’ support.

  • @Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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    783 months ago

    I’d rather have SteamOS officially support more devices including desktop. Good on Valve for giving people options though.

    • FubarberryOPM
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      73 months ago

      Yeah, that is a good point to make.

      Main reason I linked the steamdeckhq coverage is because they covered it last night, where gamingonlinux didn’t have any coverage of it until a few hours ago.

    • @Reawake9179
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      3 months ago

      I could imagine that games with invasive anti cheats are a reason.

      As someone who played a couple, i just stopped playing them.

      I’m a little sad they did this, i hoped that the pressure on the game devs would rise so they support Linux, oh well.

    • @andreluis034@bookwormstory.social
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      153 months ago

      Personally, I think this is great because I can now use my game pass subscription on the steam deck, I know I could use the cloud functionality on steamos, but it is not the same.

      This limitation made be realize the vendor lock-in that game pass is, sure it provides awesome value, but forces you to have windows or buy an Xbox.

  • @thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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    343 months ago

    Good news, Lemmy! You will no longer be forced by big tech corporations to run uh… [checks notes] a version of Linux on your Steam Deck anymore!

  • @orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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    3 months ago

    I’ve used the ASUS ROG Ally and I do not recommend running Windows on anything, let alone a handheld. Don’t tarnish your Steam Deck with this!

  • @Stampela@startrek.website
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    303 months ago

    And then there’s me, who got a new laptop a couple of days ago after looking into things, and the pre installed Windows worked perfectly to test the hardware worked fine… before being replaced by Linux.

    • @thingsiplay@beehaw.org
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      153 months ago

      The only reason to use Windows over Linux is compatibility with certain games (or even applications). Also the price of the device is pretty low. That means people who are interested into handheld PCs who want to use it as a sort of laptop for cheap and don’t care about Linux, can still install Windows on it. I’m not recommending it, but I’m glad people have this option and Valve is not actively trying to stop people (unlike other companies).

      • @embed_me@programming.dev
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        103 months ago

        Yeah I’m sure they have their reasons but if it were up to me I would never allocate resources for that.

        “Let it rot and fester somewhere else”

      • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        Perhaps it’s due to the games I play not being online multiplayer for the most part, but I’ve yet to encounter a game that I couldn’t get to work on Linux, with ~99% requiring absolutely no effort (besides clicking a drop down menu).

        And this includes games that Steam has labeled “unsupported” (not even just “unverified”).

        At risk of being that annoying, “but have you tried lately?” guy but… Have you? Because it’s pretty wild. In many cases, the Windows version of the game, played using Proton, works better than the native Linux runtime.

        • @thingsiplay@beehaw.org
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          13 months ago

          Yes, I’m playing unsupported and unverified games just fine too. Its the nature of progress, where the game, the drivers/system or Proton gets updated and the tested state no longer is accurate. There was a few cases when I tried the Windows version over Linux native build to see how it works. However I was never in a position where I needed that or when it was obviously much better. I always have this in mind in case I need to switch. Maybe in future versions where the native build is no longer functional under Linux.

      • Rikudou_Sage
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        103 months ago

        Well, at least for me the solution is simple: don’t buy those games.

          • Rikudou_Sage
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            43 months ago

            On the 1st page I found exactly one game that I’d maybe want to play, but not like I couldn’t live without it. None on page 2 and one game again on page 3. Every single game I wanted to play on the Deck works (true, some of them needed some tinkering).

            Remember, I said the solution is simple for me. Generally the games that don’t work are not really my cup of tea, like online games and generally stuff that’s more cash-grab than a game. There are few games that would make me consider getting Windows to play, but luckily all of those work well. I still wouldn’t install Windows on the Deck, though, I’d probably stream it from some PC.

            • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              23 months ago

              Yeah, I dunno if that list was supposed to be convincing lol… Most of the games on there are total “games as a service” garbage.

          • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            33 months ago

            Every single one of these games looks like trash. Like 4 out of 5 (on page 1 at least) of the games on the list are games I’ve only heard about from YouTube advertisements that I didn’t use SponsorBlock on.

            Not very convincing.

          • @Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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            23 months ago

            Dude there’s like, maybe twenty real games in that pile. Most of which I wouldn’t want to play on my steam deck anyways, not that I’ve ever wanted to play a battlefield game, but I sure don’t want to try and aim with a controller.

            • @scutiger@lemmy.world
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              13 months ago

              Gyro-assisted aiming is actually quite effective.

              Thst’s not to say anything about those games though.

  • @9point6@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Good to have the option, but probably only worth it if you play anti cheat infested games or subscribe to game pass. I’ll stick with the OS optimised for the hardware

    • icedterminal
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      23 months ago

      This is definitely meant to make it less painful for the players of those games.